SOE Entering the Survival Genre with H1Z1

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) officially announced on the 9th of April, they are working on their own entry into the zombie apocalypse survival game genre with an MMO they are calling, H1Z1.

Information posted by SOE president John Smedley to the game’s ever growing subreddit page, reveals the game is being designed as a free-to-play sandbox MMO set in a post-apocalyptic world. The game will be set 15 years after the outbreak of a deadly virus that decimates humankind for which the game takes it’s name; H1Z1.

According to Smedley, the game will feature the same things fans of the ganre would come to expect; scavenging for survival, fighting off hordes of zombies, crafting bases and better gear, repairing vehicles for transportation, and of course defending yourself from the brutality of other survivors. The map for the game is planned to be huge as expected from a SOE title in classic SOE fashion, and could eventually encompass the whole of the United States from coast to coast.

Our vision for this game is very simple but ambitious. We are starting with what I would call “Middle America” – an “anywhere and everywhere” town. The world is massive as you’ve come to expect from our games. Over time we will grow the world until we have our own version of the U.S. after the death and destruction brought on during the H1Z1 epidemic. It will be our own version of America.

Addressing concerns about what will set this game apart from others of the genre, Smedley stated the game is being designed to accommodate thousands of players per server hosted by SOE themselves and that each server will contain very different sets of rules. The amount of players available per server means higher potential for allies and/or enemies as well as a thriving economy.

Smedley also mentioned that the Roadmap system SOE built for use with Planetside 2 in which every step of continued development is communicated to players to clearly reveal what features are being worked on and when they will be made available will also be utilized for H1Z1.

SOE is by no means new to the MMO scene, having already produced such titles as Everquest 1 and 2, Star Wars Galaxies, Planetside 1 and 2, DC Universe and the upcoming Everquest Next.

Currently the official website for the game only contains a link to the subreddit, but according to a twitter post made by Smedley, the game could be available to play ‘soon’.